Warning: This chapter contains themes of self-harm that some may find triggering.

Crimson Tide

When Kai was seventeen, one of his closest friends committed suicide. At thirteen, his friend had fallen into a crippling depression, and he'd started a devastating, repetitive cycle of going from his home to the ER, to the psychiatric hospital and back home again until the night he'd gone through with it and ended his life. One of the things his friend had told him and still stuck with him to this day.

He'd told Kai that cutting your wrist was a blissful experience, that as the blood seeped from your veins and flowed down your hand, it felt as if your troubles and the demons hounding you were flowing away with it, being washed away by a crimson tide. The pain was only minimal, and you only felt it when you first cut, but then it would be gone.

Now that he'd done it, Kai regretfully realized that his friend -may he rest in peace- was full of shit.

It fucking hurt.

He gasped as the blade severed his very lifelines with brutal precision, startled by the immense bolt of pain that traveled up his arm and across his body in the speed of light. Tears welled in his eyes of their own accord. The blade slipped from his hand and embedded into the unconscious Lord Luka's thigh.

Instinctively wrapping a shaking hand around the bleeding cut, he staggered, almost instantly going lightheaded as his heart pumped blood out of him by the liters, unaware that it was pushing Kai ever closer to his inevitable end.

The world around him blinked and flickered from light to dark, or was it his vision flickering?

Slowly, because it was a sweat-breaking chore, he looked down and saw that already he was bathed in a giant crimson pool that drenched the alcove's cushions. Blood ran down his naked body, a dreadfully gory sight for even the hardest of hearts.

All this blood couldn't be his, right? Some of it had to be Lord Luka's, surely...

He was losing blood way too fast.

And there was still no sign of a golden merman anywhere.

His tired eyes scanned the horrified faces for a trace of gold, only to encounter a pair of furious blue eyes.

He looked away.

He didn't have the energy to contend with him at the moment

Where are you? You said you'd never let me die. Look, I'm dying. I'm bleeding out and I'm going to die. Come. Come quickly!

His heart beat furiously within his ribcage. Raw despair stronger than any emotion he'd experienced before in his life gripped him.

His breathing slowed.

Why won't you answer me still?! Come out already!

The world around him started spinning.

His legs buckled.

He fell into Marius' arms.

"You damn fool!" he heard him roar, his growling rumble shaking him.

He failed to register anything that was said after that. Someone was barking commands, but he couldn't tell what or who.

A hand took hold of his wrist and squeezed, cutting off some of the blood, but not all. He winced in pain, but he no longer had the energy to even speak a word of protest.

He was so spent, so exhausted.

The void beckoned him.

He unwillingly went.

As his eyes drifted closed and he succumbed to the darkness that was his mind's ocean, he cried out into the crushing blackness:

"I don't want to die!"

****

Marius watched the half-breed with amusement as he leapt into the alcove and punched his spineless cousin in the face, instantly knocking him out. The orgiastic atmosphere that had prevailed over the amphitheater quickly dissolved into a baseless panic as courtiers leapt out of the way, scampering over each other embarrassingly.

What spineless, pampered fools. They were an embarrassment to their race. Exactly what did an immortal have to fear from a mortal? Even if they were a half-breed adept at fighting, he posed no threat to them.

Turning his cold gaze back on the red-headed mortal, it was on the tip of his tongue to warn the foolish human that there was no place for him to escape nor hide, when the human did something unthinkable.

When the half-breed reached into Luka's robes and found a dagger, his amusement intensified. Weak or not, the half-breed sure knew how to keep him entertained. He'd put up quite a fight in the arena, taking down three opponents while being severely drugged. It was no easy feat, although the opponents were mortals such as himself.

Marius was almost impressed.

Did he plan to fight Marius with that?

Marius was of half a mind to let him. Yes, he'd allow the mortal this imagined advantage over him, considering that his energy was significantly spent after the fights and that he was drugged.

He was well aware that it was an unfair fight, but he no longer had the patience nor the time to wait for the Spirit of the Sea to reveal itself. He'd ensure that the host -the half-breed- was 'sufficiently' endangered to bring out the hidden power.

"Ah, so you want to be the one who gives and takes. You'd strip and toss me to the wolves, and then you'll be the one to save me, is that it? You get off on having all the control, don't you? Does it make you hard thinking you're so magnanimous, so fucking generous? Well, let me tell you what you really are, Marius."

His eyebrow cocked at the sound of his name being uttered in disdain.

The guard would have tackled the half-breed and beat him for it, but they never got the chance.

"You're a piece of shit."

The dagger descended upon the half-breed's wrist and he slit it wide open. Blood exploded out of the exposed vessels, splattering everything nearby in a rain of crimson.

For the first time in eons, Marius' jaw dropped in utter shock.

Silence fell.

He barely recognized the sound of his blood rushing in his ears; he only ever heard it when he was going into battle.

His legs moved by themselves. He unconsciously took a step forward, meaning to somehow intervene, but the damage had already been done and was irreversible. The boy had cut too deep, severed too many vessels; even healing magic would not be quick enough to save his life.

He staggered and fell into the ring.

Marius caught him in his arms.

"You damned fool!" he growled, but the half-breed didn't hear him.

His eyes drifted closed.

He was cold. He'd never been this cold before.

Marius was consumed by the strange urge to tell the half-breed that he'd never meant to go all the way once he defeated him; he would have had his people dismissed if it had come to that. He couldn't understand why he'd want to soothe or comfort him so.

"Summon Hendrix," he instructed the butler, who was standing close behind him.

"B-But sire, for a lowly human?"

"SUMMON HENDRIX NOW!" he roared at the top of his lungs.

The entire guard scurried to do his bidding.

He'd failed to calculate that it could ever escalate to this. For that, he felt immense rage. He'd lost control of a situation that should have been easily manageable.

He looked at the Queen Mother.

Their eyes connected.

She rose from her alcove and left the amphitheater, her maids hastening behind her.

So, she would not offer her powers to the Astrian.

Clenching his teeth, he carried the Astrian half-breed and headed for the door.

A sudden golden glow filled the entire amipheather.

He looked around for the source, and then looked down when he realized it was coming from the half-breed in his arms.

For the second time today, the Astrian Prince had managed to shock him into silence.

Realizing what the true source of the glow was, Marius grinned.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Show of hands, how many of you want Marius' ass beat?Liked this chapter? You're going to LOVE the next one, which is already up on Patreon for the low, low price of $1! ;D Thank you so much for reading!